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How to Move Your Staff from Good to Great

I hear all the time, “How did The Oaks put together such an incredible staff?” I love hearing that because I love the staff at the church I get to serve at, and it makes me happy to see other people notice that they are great people.

Something I once heard from Craig Groeschel has helped me understand that many of these people who ask this question aren’t as far from a great staff as they think they are.

Craig said the difference between a good staff and a great staff is 10%.

A good staff is made up of…

• 20%—Great Leaders

• 70%—Good Leaders

• 10%—Average Leaders

A GREAT staff is made up of… 

•    30%—Great Leaders

•    70%—Good Leaders

So there are two questions you must answer:

1. How do I get rid of the 10% average leaders?

2. How do I add 10% more great leaders?

Before you get angry and say, “How could a church ‘get rid’ of people just because they are average leaders?” let me encourage you to first develop plans to move them from “average” to “good.” The same way you will need to develop plans to move your “good” leaders to “great” leaders.

With that said, there will be a time to move people on, and at that point, you want to look to hire greatness. One of the best ways to do that is to utilize an outside firm or consultant to come in and assess your needs, develop a target profile for the position, and go out and hunt down greatness for you. I have partnered with the best in class organization to do this with in the Vanderbloemen Search Group. I have never seen an organization better at this process of finding greatness.

If you at times find yourself frustrated that you don’t have the staff you need, know this: You aren’t as far off as you may think you are from having a GREAT team.  

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justinlathrop@churchleaders.com'
With over a dozen years of local church ministry Justin has spent the last several years starting business' and ministries that partner with pastors and churches to advance the Kingdom. He is the founder of Helpstaff.me (now Vanderbloemen Search), Oaks School of Leadership, and MinistryCoach.tv all while staying involved in the local church. Justin is obsessed with connecting people to people and lives his life daily to make the world a smaller place. He now serves as a consultant in the area of strategic relations predominately working with the Assemblies of God, helping to build bridges with people and ministries to more effectively reach more people. He blogs regularly about what he has learned from making connection at www.justinlathrop.com.